MAC LOCHLAINN ON...

Dr Cullen Park as home venue

‘I wasn’t involved in the choice but I wouldn’t have chosen Carlow. We have very good pitches around Kildare that have stadia. I’m at a loss. Now maybe Croke Park would have said for Championship games that it isn’t going to be a runner, fair enough. But for all our home League games?

‘You’ve got Round Towers, Sarsfields, Athy, Naas. There’s loads of pitches that we could have stayed within the county and kept our home games there.

‘You’d have more Kildare people going to those games. More importantly, you’d get far more kids going with their families. That’s the generational wave that you want. Choosing to play Gaelic over soccer or rugby.’

The ‘Kildare Way’

‘Sometimes I feel like we’re playing a type of football that isn’t our type of football. And when we come under pressure it just unravels.

‘As a county we produce very big, very athletic players – we just have a natural source. And players who have good skill sets. What we’re playing is a type of football that the rest of the country might be playing but we don’t play it as well as them.

‘I would rather focus on what we do and have that identity. I thought under Kieran (McGeeney, right) was the closest, it was very natural. Move the ball fast, kick long. We were aggressive and physical. It felt very natural.

‘That’s how I would approach this. You do what’s right for Kildare football.’

Tailteann Cup

‘If at the end of the year you’re in the Tailteann Cup, you’re there on merit, whether you like it or not. So how do we make the most of it? You go at it full tilt and see if you can actually win silverware. Get a bounce out of that success.

‘Most of the county will row in. You will always have people who begrudge it.’